


To The Future

by PlatformNineAndThreeQuarters



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Character Death Fix, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Time Travel, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 14:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16683544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlatformNineAndThreeQuarters/pseuds/PlatformNineAndThreeQuarters
Summary: Naruto becomes the Hokage and all is well in the Elemental Nations. But he is well aware of the loss his best friend and his family had to suffer to achieve this peace. What will he do to make it better?





	1. Karasu-nii

Uzumaki Naruto, the Nanadaime Hokage of Konoha had achieved his dream about a week ago and he was already tired of the paperwork. He wondered how Jiji managed to do it for so many years.

It was late in the night or early in the morning when he was finally finished with the work for the day. He went to insert the ANBU roster file in the Hokage archives when in his sleep-deprived state, he managed to scatter all the files in that particular cabinet.

"Kuso. More work." he cursed. He just wanted to go home and sleep.

He began to collect the files when he came across the one from the year before he joined academy.

Curious, he picked up the file and took it with him to his office.

He had always wanted to know the identity of his mysterious ANBU protector during that year, whom he affectionately had called Karasu-nii. Unlike all his other ANBU guards, he had understood Naruto's loneliness and inexperience in taking care of himself and had chosen to help him directly instead of guarding against the shadows.

He was the person who had taught Naruto to read.

"But the Kanji is so boring, Karasu nii."

"You wish to be Hokage, don't you, Naruto-kun? A Hokage has to be very good at reading and writing, to handle all the paperwork. Now stop whining and get to it."

However, as much as he had tried, Naruto was unable to uncover his identity, before his guard duty was over when Naruto stared at the academy. He still had got occasional gifts like kunai and fresh groceries, which he knew were from Karasu-nii, but it wasn't the same. After some time those gifts had stopped too.

Naruto knew that ANBU had a very low survival rate and hoped that his mystery protector had simply gone on a long-term mission and didn't deem it necessary to continue the tradition when he came back.

Still, Naruto owed him a lot and wanted to thank him for all he had done for him. That particular year had been especially bad in regards to the villager's scorn since he was going to join the academy soon, and even Jiji had been very busy to spare any time for Naruto. If it hadn't been for Karasu-nii, he was afraid he would have snapped like Gaara.

He opened the file and quickly tried to find the identity of Karasu masked ANBU.

Eventually he found it and what he saw led to him dropping the file in shock.

Uchiha Itachi

Naruto wanted to bang his head against the wall. How had he not seen this sooner? Karasu-nii had always been small for an ANBU and had long black hair tied in a ponytail. Granted he had never seen Sasuke's older brother prior to he tried to kidnap him, but later with all the information he had, it should have been obvious.

It certainly explained Itachi's habit of calling him 'Naruto-kun', despite them being practically strangers.

Naruto sat down on his chair with a sigh and thought about what it meant. Itachi was dead so he wouldn't be able to thank him. Maybe he'll visit his grave. He wondered where Sasuke had buried him.

This surely led him to think about Itachi and his sacrifices. He wondered how much he had to kill himself to murder the children of his clan when seeing a child like Naruto in need had led him to break the ANBU code of no contact.

Perfect shinobi, indeed. Naruto snorted.

No matter how skilled he was at pretending to be one, Uchiha Itachi was never meant to be a shinobi. He didn't have the heart for it. Even Naruto, whom people called the ninja with a bleeding heart, had a little bit of ruthlessness that was needed to become a Shinobi.

Itachi on the other hand, abhorred violence. It was evident in his fighting style, which focused on genjutsu, instead of causing actual harm to his opponent.

Naruto realised that the massacre wasn't the first time Uchiha Itachi had to kill his heart to do what was needed. That would have happened years ago, probably when he became a ninja or when he joined ANBU. And nobody saw it. All they saw was the Uchiha prodigy, the genius.

Naruto shook his head. Sometimes he wondered what it probably the Shinobi system was all that was wrong with this world. It was a dangerous line of thinking for a Hokage, so quickly dismissed the thought.

He had promised to bring peace to the world and he had done that, for Jiraiya-sensei, for tou-chan, for Itachi. Now it was his responsibility to keep that peace. Perhaps, in a peaceful era, children wouldn't be forced to smother their hearts for the greater good.

He sighed and went to return the file to its original place and locked the office with fuinjutsu.

Soon enough, he was entering his home, trying not to wake up Hinata or the children. It was wasted effort, though.

"Finished with the paperwork?" came Hinata's voice, as she got up from the couch.

"Hai. You shouldn't have waited for Hinata-chan."

She decided not to respond to that, as always. "You look troubled," she commented, instead.

"Did I ever tell you about Karasu-nii?"

"The ANBU who taught you how to read?"

"Hai. It was Itachi-san." he told her.

When she didn’t look surprised, he looked at her curiously.

"I suspected it was him. I had seen him once or twice with you, when I was.... uh, observing you." she turned red.

Naruto simply smiled at her.

"And I had also seen Itachi-san at some clan gatherings." she continued. "I wasn't sure, though, so I didn't tell you."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"I just wish I could have told him how much it meant to me."

"I'm sure he already knew." his wife said. "You should get to bed now. You'll have to be in your office in the morning."

Naruto groaned at that. He was sure Kakashi-sensei had purposely left piles of paperwork before passing on the hat. As soon as Naruto was done with it, sensei was going to get pranked. Hard.


	2. Karasu-nii

Uchiha Itachi was travelling through Kiri by tree hopping when he heard the sound of a child crying in the middle of the forest. He debated to himself about moving on, then sighed an went towards the direction of the sniffling sound. He knew that this part of forest was a frequent battle ground between purists and rebels. Leaving a child alone in this area would be same as leaving the child dead. 

He found the child at the base of a tree. She looked to be about five years of age, had dark indigo hair and two whisker marks on each cheek. He wondered who would be cruel enough to inflict such injury on a child. Making his footsteps audible, he tried to gain her attention. She looked at him and he noticed her eyes. They were the exact same eyes he had seen just days ago, on the face of the Kyuubi jinchiruchi, Uzumaki Naruto. 

She quickly wiped her face of tears when she saw him and asked him, looking at his forehead protector, "You're a leaf ninja, right? Do you know where tou-chan is?" 

Apparently, she didn't know the meaning of slash on the forehead protector.

"I don't." he answered her honestly. "What are you doing here?" 

She sniffed. "We were here on a vacation. Then the bad men kidnapped Mama and Boruto and tou-chan said he was sending me somewhere safe and said that he would come to get me when it's safe and then he disappeared." 

"Who's your father?" he asked, before trying to figure out what had happened. 

"Uzumaki Naruto." she sniffed.  "My name is Uzumaki Himawari." 

It seemed Naruto-kun had inherited his father's talent for space time seals. But Itachi didn't know what kind of idiot would consider the Bloody Mist a safe place to send their daughter to. 

"I am Uchiha Itachi." he offered her his name in response to hers. It was the polite thing to do and was also a way to fish for information. 

"You're related to Sarada?" She asked, her eyes curious, instead of sad as of a moment ago. 

"I don't know." he decided to be honest. Although, he very much wished the answer to her question was positive. It would mean Sasuke had a family.

"Why do you have a line across the leaf on your forehead protector?" 

He had forgotten how many questions a five year old child asked. 

"It means that I don't live in Konoha."

"Like Sasuke oji-san?" 

"What?" 

He couldn't help but tense up at that. Sasuke was a missing nin? 

"Sarada told me that he was never in to Konoha because he was a wandering nin, that protected the village from outside its walls. Are you a wandering nin, too?" 

"Something like that." He couldn't express the relief he felt at that. Sasuke was alive, he had a daughter. Although he couldn't understand why he'd name his daughter 'salad'. He liked tomatoes but this was taking it a bit far. 

"Is your family sad too? Because you are always away? Sarada and Sakura oba-san are really sad because of that." 

Himawari has a real talent to hit a nerve. 

"I don't have a family." he lied, for the first time in this conversation. "Do you know why Sasuke-san a wandering nin?" 

Was it some form of compulsory assignment that the council had given his brother due to the past crimes of his clan? 

Himawari hesitated. "I don't know for sure, but..... Promise me you won't tell tou-chan." she demanded. 

"I promise." 

She immidietly relaxed. She had inherited Naruto-kun's naivety. 

"Well I listened in when Sakura oba-san and tou-chan were talking last week. Sakura oba-san wanted tou-chan to give oji-san in village missions because he just became Hokage. But he refused and said that oji-san didn't want to be in Konoha and he wouldn't force him. Then he asked her if she would want to be in a village that was resp...responsible for the death of his clan and his brother. Then they started walking towards the place I was hiding and crept away. " Himawari told. 

'He knew', was all Itachi could think about after hearing her explanation. How did he find out? The council wouldn't have told him, the Sandaime was dead...... Madara, he concluded. He should have known that he would go for Sasuke as soon as Itachi was dead.

The thought made Itachi furious enough to want to burn him with Amaterasu. 

...... He could do that. He could transplant his Amaterasu in Sasuke's eye during their inevitable battle. After Itachi's death Madara and Sasuke would be the last Uchiha, so Amaterasu can be activated at the sight of Sharingan. This way Madara wouldn't be able to tell Sasuke the truth. 

He would also have to make some back up plans, in case Madara survived. 

"Itachi-kun." he was jolted out of his thoughts by the five year old. "Are you all right?" Itachi was surprised to see genuine concern in her eyes. 

"Yes." he said, simply. "We should get out of the open and look for shelter for night. It could start raining anytime."

"All right." She said, holding out her arms in his direction. 

He looked at her in confusion for a few seconds before realizing that she wanted him to hold her. Itachi tried to think of any excuses that would allow him to refuse, but couldn't think of any. 

He hesitantly picked her up and it definitely brought back memories. Sasuke was the last child he had held after all. 

It turned out that Himawari really liked tree hopping. All traces of her tear strained face were gone when they reached the cave Itachi had seen a mile back. She was giggling with such genuine happiness that it even brought a smile to Itachi's face.

Itachi didn't set up a fire as he didn't want to spotted by ninjas. He could easily fight himself out a situation, but factoring Himawari in the situation made it a little complicated. He knew it was chilly so he offered her his Akatsuki cloak to keep warm, which she refused. 

"I'm an Uzumaki, we have a lot chakra. It keeps us warm." she boasted, while he could clearly see her shivering even with his poor eyesight. 

He pointed raised an eyebrow at her. 

"Don't be silly. You're sick. I could hear you breathe funny when you were carrying me. Getting cold would make it worse." she said, seriously. 

Itachi was a little surprised at himself for letting his gaurd down so much around this little girl, that she was able to deduce what even Kisame hadn't despite travelling together for years. 

Before he could formulate a response to her, she said, "We could share. I did that with Boruto nii in winter. It was warmer than sleeping alone." 

She had a look of determination on her face that resembled Naruto-kun's when he proclaimed that he was going to be Hokage. Knowing what he knew about him now, he decided that it was best not to argue. Besides, it was the best solution. 

He just hoped Kisame didn't decide to find him during the night. He would never be able to live it down if he saw her snuggling with a little girl. 

He covered both of them with his cloak and still found Himawari to be shivering. He sighed and gently put his arm across her torso and pulled her closer. Soon enough, she was letting out soft snores. 

Itachi himself wasn't planning on sleeping but a few hours later three days of exhaustion and sleepless nights caught up to him and he also fell into dreamless sleep. 

He was woken up by a hand on his shoulder, which he quickly grabbed and twisted behind the attackers back, his other hand putting a kunai to their throat, sharingan blazing. It was only after he saw blue eyes staring at him in surprise (or fear?), he remembered the events of previous evening. 

He quickly let go of her hand and bowed his head. "Himawari-chan, Gomen nessai." 

"Nah, it's all right Itachi-kun. This has happened to me with Kakashi oji-chan too." 

He frowned at her. "Then you know that you shouldn't wake up a ninja like that." 

"Ha ha... I forgot." she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. 

Itachi sighed. She really was Naruto-kun's daughter. "Just don't do it again." he told her. 

"I promise." she nodded.

That was when they were interrupted by a yellow flash and a man with blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker marks, wearing a orange jacket and Hokage robes was standing in the cave with them. 

"Tou-chan." Himawari cried, running up to him and hugged him, as he picked her up. 

"Hima-chan." he murmured. Then he looked at him and his eyes widened, "I sent her further back than I was planning on. Thank you for taking care of her Itachi-san." he bowed, holding Himawari's with one hand (was it artificial?) 

"It wasn't any trouble." Itachi replied. "Were you able to find your wife and son?" 

"Yes. They were kidnapped by traditionalists who wanted to bring back the bloody mist. They are taken care of now." he growled. Then his face split into a smile. Itachi wondered if he ever got whiplash from his expression change. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Itachi-san. We should get going." 

"Wait." Himawari said. "I want to say goodbye." She jumped down, and ran to gave Itachi a hug, which, much to his surprise, he returned. "Bye Itachi-kun. I'll miss you." she sniffed. 

Itachi smiled. It was the second time in two days. "I'll miss you too, Himawari-chan." he was able to say honestly. He would miss her. She was a bright spot in his other wise grey life, even she was just with him for less than twelve hours. "Good Bye." he said, putting her on the ground."

Naruto-kun walked over, took her hand and gave Itachi a smile. Surprisingly, there was no pity in his expression. " Good bye, Itachi-san. " saying that, he disappeared in another flash of yellow, taking Himawari with him. 

Itachi looked at the spot for a few seconds before, moving on to find Kisame.


End file.
